Mercruiser upper and lower seals

[marvinjansen]

I've got the bellows changed, new gimbal bearing, now back to the drive. Got a "good" used upper that has a damaged (crooked) seal on the bottom where the shaft goes from the lower into the upper spline, and the lower prop shaft seals leak. Is this something I should buy some tools and do myself or should I pay to have it done by someone who has done this before?

 

[ziggy]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

i can only help ya with the easy one mj.

upper that has a damaged (crooked) seal on the bottom where the shaft goes from the lower into the upper spline

this is the easy one, if it's not the one at the bottom of the driven gear shaft. assumin it's this one.

pull it by whatever means. seal puller, big screw driver etc. i used a block of wood to smash the new one in. i also seated it a shade deeper into the hole that i should have. did this because my lower drive shaft is starting to get seal wear on it. i think it's worked as this year upon inspection i see shiny right above my seal wear. i believe this is where my new seal is riding at.
fwiw. if ya got the oring slot on the lower drive shaft. ya can leave that oring off. it's not necessary.

as for your prop shaft seal. can't help ya there. never done one, from memory in reading the s/m. your gonna need some special mercruiser tools to deal with it i'm pretty sure. the s/m will spell out what ya need to do and what special tools will be necessary..,.

 

[marvinjansen]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

I'll get that one, thanks for the pic and advice.

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

i used a block of wood to smash the new one in.

Gave me the shivers to read that

I know what you meant, but daaammmnnnnnn, couldn't you find a better term to use than smash? :facepalm:

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

used a block of wood to smash the new one in.

Gave me the shivers to read that

I know what you meant, but daaammmnnnnnn, couldn't you find a better term to use than smash? :facepalm:

Ayuh,....

Beat,..??
Hammer,..??
Pound,..??


No way I'd say, "Press"......

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

i used a block of wood and a hammer to carefully tap the new one in.

Doesn't that sound better?

 

[marvinjansen]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

Ziggy, you pulled out your upper driveshaft yoke and bearing cartridge. How did you remove the "castle" retaining ring? would that seal change be fairly easy?

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

Ziggy, you pulled out your upper driveshaft yoke and bearing cartridge. How did you remove the "castle" retaining ring? would that seal change be fairly easy?

Well, I ain't ziggy, but yes you have to pull the upper completely apart to replace those seals. The steps are detailed in the manual I gave you a link to. You will need the special retainer wrench to remove it, and to reinstall it to the proper torque.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

i stand corrected.

"i used a block of wood and a hammer to carefully tap the new one in."

that is closer to how i did it than smashed. sorry about the shivers Don S.....

How did you remove the "castle" retaining ring?

with a aftermarket reatainer nut wrench like this... http://www.iboats.com/Spanner-Nut-Wrench/dm/*******.998032145--**********.695371933--view_id.271181

would that seal change be fairly easy?

next level up above easy maybe... obsticals i had were the retainer wrench, a torque wrench that had 75 ft. lbs about in the middle of it's range. figuring out how to hold the double brg. assy. in a vise to put 75 ft. to the nut that holds it all together. ya gotta replace that nut and washer. it's a one time use item. figureing out how to hold the drive steady when re torquing the retainer nut back on. (layed it on the ground and had someone heavy stand on it).
i also had blue brgs. these required replacement. this required a reshimm. begged and borrowed them tools from my local dealer the kind marine techs they have there.
one other thing. the small spacer in the pic is not always present. if it's not. you don't use a straight torque value to torque down the nut on the drive gear yoke. you use rolling torque when the assy. is w/o that spacer.

here's the assy. in pieces.. (note, the yoke should be flipped end for end in the pic and placed last on the right)

the seal is second in from the right.

my drive gear yoke was bum too. so it also got replaced..

Well, I ain't ziggy

that's good, if ya were, then ya'd have to ask Don S and Bond-o how to do things proper...

mj, Don S and Bond-o have both taught me a lot. listen to them way before me..
for sure on what Don S said about using the service manual too. i used mine a lot...

still do too.....

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

Awww 'ell Ziggy,... Yer the King of the Mod.1 man....

 

[marvinjansen]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

I replaced the prop seals yesterday in an hour. Drilled 1/8" holes in the seals with a 12" bit so as to not nick the shaft or housing and pulled out with a slide hammer. Installed a one piece cartridge with the 2 seals inside. Next time it will come out with easily with a screwdriver.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

way to go mj. got any pics for us folks that haven't done that yet? sounds like it worked real well for ya. love it when a plan comes together.

 

[marvinjansen]

Re: Mercruiser upper and lower seals

I should have taken a pic of the new seal assemble but will describe it best I can. It has a lip that hangs over the outer edge of the casing, an oring seals that lip from the underside. The two seals were inserted into the cartridge back to back. I "tapped" the cartridge into the casing and it doesn't leak now. Best thing is that if I have to remove the seal again it will be easy from the outside with a screwdriver. Got seal from amarket.com in New Orleans. Installed shift cable and adjusted it today. By the way, my Aristocraft 19 had a 14' shift cable so that's what I put back in, but it is even a little long with 2 loops, I bet a 13 or maybe even 12 would work. I adjusted the cables best I could, the manual is not easy to follow. It works now, goes into forward, reverse, and has the neutral safety working. I would like to see a simplified guide to adjusting the lower and shift cable. Now to get on the water tomorrow!